Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Stranger in Town

...

Kagami keeps getting surprise after surprise from her creature and others. But things have taken a worse turn for them all.

For the Fire is not just coming. The Fire is here.

The Fire, Part 2

Hours later, at Damien's apartment: Yuijin had settled-more or less-down into the lawn in back of the apartment complex, though he was still clearly nervous. Deanna was holding the half-grown cat, sometimes just holding it in her lap, sometimes holding it up to her face, looking it right in the eyes, as though looking for something. ("You can both stay the night," she'd sighed, "since obviously, your creature felt you'd be safer here than at your townhouse. Then, if your house is still there in the morning, well, we'll see.") Kagami reflected that this was the most civil Damien's sister had ever been to either of them.

She sounded worried.

During one period when Deanna was staring into the cat's eyes, she'd broached a subject that had bothered her ever since she learned of it. "So…is Damien alright?"

"No," said Deanna, simply, then fallen silent again.

"Deanna," said Kagami, "I consider Damien one of the few friends I have. If I can help-*"

"You can't." More staring into the cat's eyes. "He…he'll just have to heal."

"But, but you are both demons, shadonai, are you not? What could possibly have injured-*"

"Daughter," said Tomoe Tsurugi, sharply, "this is clearly a personal matter, one Deanna does not wish to discuss with outsiders, such as us, for whatever reason. It is disrespectful to press for details on such matters. If she wishes to discuss it, and feels comfortable doing so with us, she will. Otherwise, let it drop."

Now Deanna put the kitten on her shoulder, where it continued to purr. "Thank you, Lady Tsurugi. I appreciate your respect in the matter." She turned to Kagami. "But one thing I will say, and then no more.

"Damien was not just injured. He was tortured." Kagami gasped, but her mother, sitting on the couch, using Kagami's phone to direct repairs to their townhouse, merely nodded. Almost as if she'd expected it. "Don't ask me anymore. As your mother has said, it's a family matter, and you couldn't help in any case."

"Was it…was it Ourobouros?" Kagami asked before she remembered how Deanna had said she'd say no more.

"Kagami!" Tomoe's voice cut. "Let it drop!"

"Y-yes, mother," said an abashed Kagami. Change the subject. "What, er, exactly are you doing with the cat?"

"Trying to establish a telemental link with it-with her. If I can, I can get some idea as to what she saw, what she experienced. I'm afraid I know what happened…" She nodded to the pile of blackened rocks and ashes on the floor, "...but if I'm right…

"Well, it could be very bad, indeed."

Kagami was left to ruminate over what an actual demon from Hell would call "very bad."

…..

Paris, southside: High Lord Mastron Pureblood stood on the roof of their appropriated apartment building, one foot propped upon the ledge. He was looking off towards the east; every so often, he'd put his nose to the wind. Thornmoon Ironpaw had reported a strange scent of fire coming from that direction. Strange, because the simple scent of smoke had apparently scared the so-far unscarable Ironpaw.

It had made him nervous. Nothing made him nervous.

Whatever he'd sensed, had to be something very far out of the ordinary. Very far.

But try as he might, he could sense nothing.

Thornmoon Ironpaw and Ardent Bloodfang joined him on the roof. "Smell anything?" asked Ironpaw. He was trying to sound casual, but Pureblood could tell he was still a bit nervous.

But Pureblood was glad the pair had joined him. It was common knowledge that Ironpaw had the most sensitive nose in the service. If there was something to be sensed, he'd be the one to do so. "No," he replied. "Do you?"

Ironpaw shook his head, a gesture that had migrated from the humans of their world. "Nothing now. Maybe…maybe I just imagined it." I hope so, anyway.

"Could you give me any idea as to what you smelled?" It is impossible to translate, in any human tongue, the sheer complexity of the Warwolves' language regarding their sense of smell, which is their primary sense. After that, hearing, with sight a distant third. They perceived the world in a different way than humans, for whom sight was the primary sense, did. In the Warwolf language, there were no less than 337 different names for different kinds of scent, some only slightly different, some wildly so, but all different, nonetheless.

"No. Just…something *bad*" Using this word, in this tense, indicated something, a far-off trace of a scent, of an unnatural sort, a malevolently unnatural sort. Similar to how a human might use different words to describe a ghost or monster than another human.

"Well, I don't smell it now, and neither do you, so… Corporal Bloodfang?" Ardent's head whipped around at the mention of his name. "What about you? You were able to grab that intruder, and were close enough to've gotten some sort of scent from it. What was it?"

He came over and joined them at the ledge. "I think…no, I'm almost positive it was some human, and yet, there was something different about it. Aside from the fact that we couldn't see it, I mean. But I could certainly feel it…sort of."

"'Sort of'?"

"It didn't seem to have the same feel as a human body, or any normal body. And then, it's like it…changed, somehow, becoming intangible, slipping through my fingers. I tried to tell it to calm down, that I had it, it didn't need to be afraid, I wouldn't let it fall…now I wonder if maybe it intended to fall."

Pureblood's eyes widened. "A suicide? Are you sure?"

"No, sir. I, er…" He hung his head. "I forgot to speak in the human tongue, so I'm sure it didn't understand me. But that was my bad."

Pureblood scratched his neck. "Perhaps so." He sighed. "But what is, is. But I find it more likely that it was a spy given orders to suicide upon capture. On the other paw…" He paused, scratched his neck some more. "We have reason to think the Princess rescued it, whoever, whatever it was. So perhaps a plan, rescue included, was established beforehand?"

"The scent was *human female*, sir. But *altered human female*."

"*Altered human female*? Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir. And we know the Princess has access to Cthonic magick…perhaps she shared some, in order to get some intel on us?"

"Hmmm." Pureblood thought. That actually made sense. More sense than he liked. It implied the object of their pursuit knew more about them than they knew about her. In any military campaign, even a relatively peaceful one, that is not a good thing. "We have to find out. I'm detailing the both of you to look into this matter. That garbage bin she fell into may have masked the spy's scent, but not the Princess's. See what you can find out about her movements.

"Did you," he said, addressing Ironpaw, "get anything like a *directional scent* from this whiff you caught?"

Ironpaw hesitated. Bloodfang stared; he'd never seen his friend hesitate like this before. This must've been something bad. "Of course, sir. It was very faint, though, but it seemed to be coming from outside the city."

"Could you follow that?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then, once you've gotten all the intel on the Princess's movement you can, I want you two to go investigate it. If this…event, whatever it was…could be detected all the way here, into the city, it must've been…significant."

….

Damien's apartment: Deanna had retrieved some blankets, pillows, and sheets for her unexpected guests. Where they would actually sleep, she would leave to them, but, to her, it was a given that Tomoe would take the love seat, and Kagami… "Don't worry about me, Deanna. Frankly, I'm too wired to sleep."

"Well, anyway, you can have the recliner. Or, if you like, I'll get some more blankets and pillows…make the floor softer."

"Thank you. Perhaps I can rest, if not sleep." But Deanna had already picked the cat up and, once again, was staring into its eyes. Suddenly, her own eyes widened, and Kagami could swear that she paled somewhat. She dropped the cat ("Mreow!") and practically leaped for the red phone. Picked up the headset. "Get me Honored Morax, now." Paused while she listened. "I don't care! This is an emergency!" Another pause. Then, in a calmer tone, "Honored One, I think we have a problem. A big problem."

To be continued…